One-on-One
by RYStormfield
Summary: Sannoh, still can't overcome the bitter feeling of their dethronement as the reigning champion, is preparing for a payback on Shohoku on the upcoming Winter Invitationals, postponing retirements and Sawakita's trip to America. Rematches, New Challenges and New Rivalries and possibly some happy endings? (Continuation to "10 DAYS AFTER" with some tweaks)
1. PROLOGUE

Zzup everyone! Soooo, this is actually my first fic and I'm still a newbie in here so if it happens you had any complaints with how I wrote this fanfiction, please do so in a rather courteous and gentle manner. (lol at my english). In the first place, I'm not a native english speaker so I'm bound to commit mistakes every now and then.

ANYWAYS! Moving on, I've noticed, Most people only write Rukawa, Hanamichi, Mitsui and Sendoh stuff in here and I rarely see stuff about the other awesome characters so for a change, I decided to write this fic in a way EVERYONE is included or mentioned at least in the story, while on the other hand, giving a tribute to one of my favorite charas in this anime: Sawakita, Eiji x an OC chara that I specially designed to fit his personality. ^^ (teehee xDDD)

*NO YAOI in here. I don't write Yaoi. Not to appear like a homophobe in here, I just don't feel like it. I only know het stuff so. yep.

*Rated T for mild language

*The rest of the characters will appear on the next chapter

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

_**Prologue**_

"Sannooooooooooooooh... FIGHT!"

"OOOUU!"

"FIGHT!"

"OOOUU!"

The number 1 team is all high-spirited as they jogged altogether along the seaside somewhere in Kanagawa. It was a bright sunny Saturday morning, and it's not even 7am yet. Their loud yells stirred up the antecedently quiet beach, and livened it up, drawing people's attention to them.

"Isn't that Team Sannoh of Akita? What are they doing here?"

Words coming from the small crowd of high-schoolers who are familiar about high school basketball.

Who wouldn't know this team anyways? They reigned for 10 years as the #1 Highschool Basketball Team nationwide and always have consisted the top class players, well known for bringing out the best of every player joining the said renowned ever-winning team.

Unfortunately, this prefecture, Kanagawa's Team Shohoku rewrote history and dethroned Sannoh from its former glory.

"The unremarkably strongest Sannoh, to be even more stronger.." has been their words of motivation since.

And since then, they spent the remaining months until the Winter Invitationals to challenge all the top 4 teams of the Prefectures that created a huge impact during the previous Inter-High School Basketball Tournament. As a penalty to their defeat, a way to boost their morale as a team after the depressing loss and also to widen their range of information. They went all the way from Akita to hold training camps and practice matches with the top 4 teams of every district and this time, it's Kanagawa's turn to face them, hungering for a payback.

Autumn has just started.

"Aaaah... my legs feel all sore." Sawakita groaned. "Aren't we done yet? We've been running since 5. I'm starving...!"

They sat by the white sand, taking a break while waiting for Mikio to come back who was told by Doumoto-sensei to buy some snacks and drinks.

"Alright, I think you're right" Doumoto-sensei agreed. "Let's just wait for Mikio to come back, have some snacks and then we shall jog back to the Inn."

"AAAAAHHH! JOG BACK?!" Sawakita whined louder, like the usual cry baby he is, falling into his back lying down the sand, sulking.

"What a wuss..." Masashi sighed.

"I still can't believe how someone like that, has a monstrous talent in basketball inside him...yo" Fukatsu added.

"Sorry to keep you waiting..." Mikio, the gentle giant ran up to them panting, handing them over bottles of Gatorade and some snacks too, before turning to his brother to utter an apology that seemed to have been his mannerism... "Sorry brother..."

"You just came on time..." Masashi responded.

Whilst they were doing their own thing, drinking and eating to replenish the energy lost during their rigid exercise, some girls by the shore, were staring at them.

"Just do it!" "But I'm too shy!" "Don't worry were here to back you up..." "C'mon, go girl!"

That's what they heard from afar, and it only meant one thing. After some few moments of fumbling, those girls finally approached them, still nudging on each other on who goes first.

"Umm, are you Sawakita-kun of Sannoh?" The bravest one of them asked, while the rest were blushing and nudging each other.

Masashi just rolled his eyes, as this is the usual sight being with their ace a.k.a., the heart throb. "Here we go again."

Minoru nudged Sawakita who seemed to be too busy on his snacks to notice those girls swooning over him. "Oi oi..."

"Yeah?" Sawakita looked back.

"KYAAAAAA!" The girls screamed. "He looked so cute up close!" They sprinted back to where they used to stay moments ago and continued screaming like a school of dying whales... looking back at Sawakita who was left disconcerted by the girls reactions.

"Ohhhkay?" He went back to his drink and rolled his eyes.

" 'OHHHKAY'? Is that how you treat your admirers?!" Masashi, lunged forward, grabbed Sawakita by the head and wrestled him who was caught off-guard, his bottle of Gatorade CAME flying in the air, and he is now trying so hard to struggle before he gets crushed once again into mincemeat by the wrath of this beauty-deprived, freak of nature. "Getting all the fangirls and fanmails all for yourself definitely isn't a permission to act like a total douche! Dont be so happy about yourself Sawakita!"

"I DIDN'T DO SHIT YOU STUPID COW!" Sawakita protested while struggling to catch the last of his breath and felt like his arm was about to snap like a piece of crunchy soda cracker the moment Masashi stretched his arm up to his back... "Let go of meeee! HEEEELP!" He started to wheeze like a lung cancer victim while his face started to turn blue until Masashi eventually finished him with a judo throw, landing him with a thud on his back.

"THAT HURRRRT! (cough cough)" He continued yawping while he sniveled along with a series of wheezes, as he slowly tried to get up, cracking some seemingly dislocated joints. "Fat ass...(snivels)"

"He should have another title yo... Sawakita, the #1 sniveler...yo" Fukatsu added who expressed it humorously despite his monotonous expressions.

"Dude, youre 17, sniveling costs a lot of fangirls" Masashi added.

"I don't snivel! (snivels)" Sawakita stood up, getting really ticked. "Im just gonna head back to the Inn... ALONE pffft" After whisking off the sand on his Jogging Pants, off he marched away from his taunting teammates, with hands on his pockets, still mumbling.

* * *

"_I can't believe it! Even Fukatsu-senpai, all of them teaming up on me..._" Sawakita continued mumbling while slowly walking absentmindedly.

"AAAAHH, LOOK OUT!" He heard someone scream before he looked back just to get a direct hit on his face, smash with a basketball.

"Oooops?" A group of girls playing basketball, watched as the ball bounced to the ground after hitting Sawakita right to the face.

"We're so sorry! We didn't mean to hit you with that one..." A girl ran to him to apologize with a corteous bow.

Sawakita still rubbing his face, trying his best not to whimper, uttered "Yeah, it's cool. I just didn't see it coming..." Until he took his hands off his face revealing his identity...

"Ooooo~~ He's... he's...!" One of the girls was about to exclaim... "Sawakita-san of Sannoh!"

"Oh my gosh! He's actually here!" And the rest of the girls started to surround him and chatter around the popular guy they just happen to luckily yet accidentally stumble upon.

"Umm hi? hahahaha" Sawakita, once again disconcerted by the feeling of women surrounding him simply scratched his head with the feeling of abashment painting his cheeks red while he let out a guilty and awkward laughter.

"What are you guys doing stalling our rehearsals like that?" A voice interrupted those girls chattering, drawing their attention to where the voice was coming from. It was actually from another girl who seemed to be someone around the same age as them.

"Sorry Captain!" The girls apologized. It was their Captain. A girl who looks apparently different from most of them. She has a light colored, wavy blonde hair that was tied in a loose bun with stray locks scattered around her sweaty forehead, light grey eyes, and a facial feature not quite familiar compared to the regular girls he used to see around. She's quite tall too compared to the average and she has a nice, slim and androgynous fit, while her sun-burnt eneven skin tone matches her blonde hair well.

"A foreigner?" Sawakita thought.

"Captain, we just apologized to Sawakita-san, we accidentally hit him with the ball in his face..."

"Sawakita-san? You mean, that ball-headed goof over there...?" The blonde captain asked contemptuously raising a brow at Sawakita who stood outside the court still looking at them blankly.

"Yeah!" One of the girls answered enthusiastically. "He is from Sannoh, and he was an MVP..."

"Big deal..." The Captain interrupted before the girl could finish her word. "We had no time to moon over a fool labelled MVP who cant even dodge a ball with his hands."

"_What the..?_" Sawakita was taken aback by such downright arrogance. "_Even called me a goof?_"

"Get back to your posts!" The Captain admonished. "Sub me in." She called for one of the members who stood as the referee to sub her into the game.

Then the girls were back to what they have been doing previously before Sawakita accidentally interrupted it, and there he is still standing there, feeling a bit agitated by such an understatement he got specially from a girl.

"Shohoku Basketball Club - Girls Division." He heard someone spoke from his behind.

"Gaah! Se-sensei!" Sawakita exclaimed, surprised to see everyone behind, who apparently had caught up while he stood there for quite some time inattentively, watching how girls play the game he ultimately excels in.

He was hoping so bad that none of them have seen his embarrassing screw-up just a little while ago, and that they did not also hear the deriding affrontations addressed to him by that outlander.

"What are you doing here, standing blankly like all that...?" Masashi asked.

Apparently by that question, they did not seem to know.

"Uhh, nothing..." Sawakita stammered. "Was just watching how girls play basketball." He got back to his composure and turned to his team, so they can finally head back to the Inn together, since they caught up to him anyways.

"Let's go..."

They all started to move on, except for Fukatsu who was left there, standing by the fence, still watching.

"That blond chick over there playing as the Point Guard is remarkably good...yo" Fukatsu remarked as the Top Point Guard of the Japanese High School Basketball League himself.

"Of course she is..." Doumoto sensei walked back to join Fukatsu watch. "Just like you, she is a #1 Point Guard after all, but mostly known as the National MVP... haha" He ended with a chuckle.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 1**

I dont actually expect a lot of reviews on this one as my main chara for this is not the usual main chara people love to use around here, but hey! At least I made it! (fair enough for a noob like me pffft xDDD)

see ya on the next chapter (IF there would be any? *shrugs*)! ^^


	2. An unexpected guest

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc. 

* * *

"Of course she is..." Doumoto sensei walked back to join Fukatsu watch. "Just like you, she is a #1 Point Guard after all, but mostly known as the National MVP...haha" He ended with a chuckle.

"Really?" They chorused while each one of them running back to join Fukatsu and their coach to watch, excluding Sawakita, who is presently in an inherent bad mood. Sawakita though, stood on his tracks and decided to wait for them anyway.

"Her hair looked like strands of gold... looks so coooool..." Mikio on the other hand was more fascinated by the unfamiliar sight of a light-featured person.

"For some reason it feels strange knowing gentle creatures like women play such a strenuous and masculine game like we do..." Nobe commented. The rest agreed by nodding as well.

"You guys don't know her cuz first of all, the Girls Division isn't as popular as yours and she was in America during Middle School and this year's first quarter."

"_America?_" Of all the words he heard, this gave Sawakita the most impact. "_So that cocky bitch really is a foreigner..._" He thought to himself. To think that he is about to go to America too...

* * *

_"Are you sure son?" Tetsu, Sawakita's father asked with an underlying anxiety._

_"Yeah... After the first time I tasted defeat, I realized to myself how it feels like to have a reason and a goal to strive harder and prove worthy of the name I established. Back then it was all for my childish enjoyment... It might have not been technically my defeat, but I carry the name of my team with me..."_

_"So what's your plan?..."_

_"America can wait..." Sawakita faced his dad with a determined glimmer in his eyes. "I will stay here until the end of the school year, and bring Sannoh back to its throne where it REALLY belongs."_

_"This Winter Invitationals shall be payback time..."_

* * *

"Big deal..." Sawakita scoffed. "You talk like you guys can't do what she can pfft." And he eventually turned his back, proceeding to what they were supposed to do a while ago, which was to finally head back to the Inn.

"What's up with him?" Minoru asked, confused by his implicit man-period-ish reactions.

"Guy pride... Could be because the blondie was his female counterpart..." Masashi suggested, proceeding to going back to the Inn as well. "This is interesting..." He rubbed his chin in an implicit enthusiasm, contrary to his expressionless face.

"She's a Point Guard yo. Not a Forward. Doesn't fit the analogy yo." Fukatsu and the rest moved on and followed.

"It fits actually..." Doumoto sensei contradicted with a grin. "She's also a Sophomore just like Sawakita, and she is from America. The place where Sawakita aspires to gain skills from..."

"EEEHHH?!"

* * *

"EEEHHH?! Sannoh is here in Kanagawa?" Exclaimed the whole Shohoku Basketball club as they gathered around the court, discussing some matters in regards to their club and activities.

"I've heard from an acquaintance. She said she saw them by the seashore carrying out morning exercise drills." Ayako stated.

"Are you sure its the baldies she saw? It could be something else!" Hanamichi blurted out. "Theyre surely here to challenge this genius for a rematch (nods)! They're pretty quick huh, catching up here the moment I came back from the rehab... NYAHAHAHAHAHA! Good timing... yes yes... (snickers)"

"As if..." The inexpressive Rukawa from behind suspired sarcasm along with everyone's 'here we go again' eye-roll as a response to Hanamichi's unimaginable crackbrained antics.

"Got a problem, sleepyhead?!" He ran to Rukawa seizing the sleepy-eyed ace at his collar.

"You're the one having problems. Seriously in the head..."

"NANNIIIII!?"

"ENOOOOUGHHHH!" They cupped their mouths after getting them hit with a hard slap by that of Ayako's trusty giant paper fan that she keeps in god-knows-where.

"Morons..." Akagi grunted before proceeding back to the topic. "Who cares about them hanging around the town? Whatever their purpose is, it has got nothing to do about us. We should focus instead on the Winter Invitationals. We have all the Top Team's eyes on us after our victory over Sannoh. We need to prove ourselves worthy of such glory."

"Said by someone who filed for a retirement a month ago..." Mitsui reacted scornfully, smirking. "Well said..."

"Watch your mouth you~...!"

"Sannoh was actually here for a Training Camp..." Even before Akagi could counter Mitsui's sardonic affirmation, spoke Anzai-Sensei who have been sitting by the corner drinking some tea while watching his team of hot-headed bad boys' impish yet hilarious antics that he usually find amusement from.

"Apart from that were pre-arranged Practice Matches with the Top-4 Teams of the Top-4 Prefectures during the Interhigh, including the Teams that stood-out as well... and you all know what does that mean..."

"WHHHHHAAAAAATTT!" They all exclaimed in dread, knowing to themselves that just in case of a rematch, it would less likely be possible for them to defeat Sannoh once again.

"I knew it, I KNEW IT! NYAHAHAHAHA!" Hanamichi cocked his head with sheer confidence coming from his blissful ignorance of the matter. "SEEE! I TOOOLD Y~~"

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" And once again, Ayako's almighty giant fan smacking Hanamichi on the head shutting him up. "Ayako-san, so mean..." Hanamichi whimpered.

"Did any of their seniors retire?" Kogure asked with anxiety.

"_Sawakita..._" Rukawa thought to himself.

"This actually has two sides of the story. The good and the bad..." Anzai-sensei continued in his usual calm and gentle manner. "Which would you like to hear first?"

"THE BAD!" Without hesitations they all responded eagerly in a loud unison.

"Alright..." Anzai-sensei paused to sip some tea. "None of them left the team. Not even Sawakita-kun."

"Holy crap..." Silence ensued, leaving them thinking back on how much of a death-match it have been a month ago. And now, a rematch, STILL with the seniors and their dreaded ace, Sawakita.

"_He... didn't go to America?_" Rukawa said under his breath.

"Ready to hear the good news?

They still remained quiet, still lost in their realm of thoughts, still thinking about how they fought to death against Sannoh, at the same time how Aiwa thrashed them out of the tournament.

"I'll take that as a yes." Anzai-sensei reassured. "Well, we aren't actually included to their list."

They all let out a loud 'PHEEEEWWW' as an expression of extreme relief... "Good grief!"

"Isn't that strange?" Miyagi disrupted, getting everyone's eyes on him. "We're the ones they needed to ask for a payback match on. Are they too scared to get shot down once again?"

"I don't think it's cowardice, Miyagi-kun." Anzai-sensei disagreed. "According to Taoka-Sensei of Ryonan, they recieved an invitation too, and that includes, Kainan and Shoyo as well, leaving the fourth slot vacant which was supposedly reserved for us..." He added.

"I myself wasn't properly informed about this matter however the situation seems to be more like, they're giving us time to get stronger too as well. Aiming to defeat us right in front of the whole nation during the Winter Invitationals, like how we dethroned them from their 10-year consecutive reign..."

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 2**


	3. The Green Team

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

6 pm, the street lamps started to light up as the sky slowly darkened into a midnight blue.

"Chuuuuusu!"

The gym door slid open revealing two unfamiliar feminine figures.

"Hmm?" Ayako looked back whilst supervising the team having a face-off match between the 1st year members versus the 2nd and 3rd year members merged team.

"Araa!" She exclaimed in surprise. "Naomi-chan, Mika-chan!" running towards them.

"Hey!" The one named Naomi greeted back, waving a hand.

"How's the team going?" Ayako turned to the one named Mika, then turning back to that one named Naomi, "Still looking good in blonde! Youre getting taller! hahaha"

That foreigner. Naomi Sterling. 2nd year Class 3. Standing 170cm, weighing 50 kg. Half Japanese, Half American. Have been classmates with Ayako last school year, and was one of the pioneer members of Shohoku Girl's Basketball Club, that only commenced to open last school year, and have conquered the Nationals together with her team, gaining the National MVP award.

"I hate you..." Naomi teasingly sulked. "You shouldve joined the team with Haruko-chan too... pffft. You couldve had the chance this year, but you guys chose THIS..."

"You can't simply get over it huh? Ms. M-V-P!? HAHAHAHAHA" Ayako taunted her pinching her on the waists.

"HEEEEEY!" Naomi protested. "I knew it! You were here because of Miya-"

"You're NOT gonna say that!" Ayako blurted out interrupting Naomi in which the three of them ended up in an unlady-like, loud-mouthed laughter.

"Ah, speaking of MVP..." Naomi stopped laughing, changing the topic. "I stumbled upon a goofball this morning. And my teammates called him an MVP. Guess what happened?"

"Wait, which one are you talking about?" Mika asked puzzled, like she had no idea.

"You were LATE this morning remember, Vice Captain?" Naomi addressed sarcastically.

"Don't tell me you meant Maki-san of Kainan?" Ayako befuddled, raising a brow. "He's DEFINITELY NOT a goofball."

"Or Mitsui-san?" Mika added.

"Neither... The one I'm talking about looks... sorta unfamiliar." Naomi continued. "I haven't seen him anywhere before... his name is... what was that again?.. Sa-... sa- I forgot. Doesn't matter..."

"SAAA-KURAGI HANAMICHI - The genius sportsman!" Hanamichi blundered out from the behind butting himself in the conversation. "Gudee-booning~ Goajusu! Wazzzaaa-ppu!" He then followed it with an impish wink speaking in a lousy, incomprehensible english-meets-japanese accent.

"Why, good evening Mr. Genius!" Naomi winked as well, greeting Hanamichi back in english, with full enthusiasm as she had been always amazed by this self proclaimed genius' ludicrous antics.

"Definitely a goofball but NO MVP!" **WHAAACCCK!**

Ayako, out of nowhere, whacked Hanamichi once again with her giant fan in the head, frantically throwing an arm, pointing to the court. "BACK TO YOUR POST!"

"That's the 25th hit for today, Ayako-san... (snivels)" Hanamichi then whimpered like a loser dog, staggering back to the court.

"What a moron... getting his ass on someone else's conversation..." Ayako rolled her eyes. "Where were we again?"

"Inside the gym... haha" Both replied playfully.

"Very funny..."

"Ah!" Mika then cut the convo off, remembering something. "I FORGOT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING NAOMI!"

"Yeah?"

"I have someone I wanted to introduce to you! I'll be meeting this childhood friend of mine I've always been talking about to you, this 7 in the evening at Danny's!"

"You mean your childhood crush?" Naomi narrowed her grey-eyes on Mika. "I gotta see him! And see to myself if he really was as cute as how you used to describe him... pffft"

"And without inviting me?" Ayako with hands on her waists raised a brow.

"Ahh, well, you can come with us, of course haha. But you already have met or have seen him somewhere before, I think?"

* * *

"So tomorrow's gonna be, Shoyo... right?" Masashi asked before sipping on his bowl of noodles, along with the whole team who sat around a long table, bountiful of all sorts of food, having an early dinner.

"Yeah... another team dethroned by Shohoku..." Minoru in response to Masashi's question added.

"Sensei, aren't we gonna watch a vid of their matches yet?" Ichinokura asked. "We're gonna start off early tomorrow..."

"Nope. This way we would be able to test our skills better without preparation..." Doumoto-sensei done on his dinner, sat while he watched his team eat like a pack of wolves, preparing themselves for a match against Shoyo tomorrow.

"I've heard they're all about defense right? They're all like around 190cm above except for their Point Guard..." Nobe suggested.

"You still had the advantage against their Center-Forward. You had nothing to worry about him." Doumoto-sensei in response to Nobe's suggestion. "We can still use Mikio against them, While you Fukatsu, still had the advantage against Fujima by that little difference in your height. Be careful though, he has quite a wide shooting range..."

"Copied... yo..."

"Their center of offense is their Point Guard, so most likely, they would rely on his Fast Breaks to score. We would go all-out on Offense and try to create a 30-point to 40-point lead on the last 5 minutes, so Sawakita..." Doumoto-sensei addressed to Sawakita who was seemingly lost in his thoughts... "We're relying on you on that one..."

"Hm?"

"I said, don't screw up tomorrow and maintain your focus..." Doumoto-sensei rephrased the previously delivered instruction.

"I repeat, we all know these series of matches we are having are just Practice Games. But you all know better than to underestimate your oponent and not to get too lenient..."

"We aren't gonna lose again ever"

* * *

7 pm. Rehearsals has just ended. Sakuragi and his trusty "friends" are on their way to Pachinko, planning to reward himself with some enjoyment in compensation of the whole-day's work.

"Ahhh... I'm starvin'..." Hanamichi groaned, while he walked along the quiet, night street together with Yohei and the rest of the group, all of them on their way back to their respective homes. "I've been practicing all day and that stupid Gori, and his underling, the Lady Gori Ayako-san won't stop hitting me...!"

"Aren't you supposed to be excited because gramps will soon give you a Training Program on 3-pointers?" Yohei tried to cheer him up.

"I still kinda have a bad feeling on that one..." Takamiya on the other hand opposed, rubbing his double-chins.

"Its entirely the opposite! It means, he would hire us again and that's a DEFINITELY a good news for us!" Ookusu gleefully asserted.

"YES YES! More money, More funny videos!" Noma seconded.

"GGGGRRRRR AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES MY FRIENDS!?" Hanamichi came dashing after them like a raging fireball, chasing them like a hungry shark lunging on a fresh piece of meat. "COMBACK'ERE YOU WORTHLESS PIECES OF SHIT!"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Just before they could go for a sharp turn to a nearby left corner, they were brought to a halt, resulting to a screech then bumping to each other upon seeing someone they actually knew...

"Ah! Hoketsu-kun!" Hanamichi hollered, throwing an arm up in the air waving it to that bunch of familiar walking figures. Fujima, and the starters of Shoyo. "Long time no see!"

In which, they looked back at him to greet him back. "Hey! Long time no see too." Fujima replied in a plain corteous manner.

"A- A- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hanamichi scream in horror.

In a few months he haven't see this team, a lot have changed, and seeing Fujima, the fabulous and the feminine one, with facial hair is a totally unlikely and shocking sight. Along with the rest like Nagano and Takano with shaved brows, Hasegawa going bald and Hanagata wearing weird shaped glasses, definitely scared the shit out of Hanamichi and the rest of the gang.  
"W-WHAT HAPPENED TO... WH- WHY?- H-HOW?!"

"We have just finished today's rehearsals. How's your back? I've heard you got injured? Congratulations anyway, even belated. Doing a spectacular job beating up Sannoh..." Fujima asked disregarding Hanamichi's questions.

"Y-yeah... thanks?" Hanamichi, inadvertently uttered, still staring at Fujima's beard and the rest of the atrocity on Shoyo's 'new look'.

"Just so you know, tomorrow will be our Practice Match with Sannoh. Aren't you greeting us good luck?" Hanagata added.

"Y-yeah... well... good luck?" Hanamichi, still under state-of-shock can only find a little words to say while the team in green started rolling after bidding the still dazed Hanamichi goodbye.

"_What... the... fuck?!_"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 3**

Notes :

*Danny's is this restaurant shown in some episodes in the anime, and some chapters in the manga too  
*I'm still confused about Ichinokura's year level. I am thinking he's about second year or something.  
*_Hoketsu-kun_ means "sub guy" which Hanamichi calls Fujima both in Manga and Anime.  
*again, the grammar. pardon me. R.I.P. Grammar...


	4. Sneak, sneak, sneak

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

"Remember, the match starts at 9 am." Doumoto-sensei stated as he gave his final instructions in regards to tomorrow's Practice Match, before he bid the whole team to go for an early slumber. "That means, we had to leave at 7. Waking up at 6 is ideal so we had to sleep now."

"Whaaat?" Sawakita blurted out. "It's not even 9!"

"We all know we practiced till death the whole day round, and we needed a rewarding rest to be able to function well tomorrow, specially YOU! Sawakita..."

"But-"

"Sensei's right yo. Just stop whining yo." Fukatsu seconded.

"So, yeah. Give yourselves a rewarding sleep and make sure to set your clocks at 5:30. That's for an extra time for the snooze bar."

"Yes sir!" They all chorused.

"Good night..."

Then Doumoto-sensei shut the door gently, leaving the room assigned for the starters shut, before proceeding to the rest of the club member's room to give them the same instructions.

"Ahhh... It's not even 9..." Sawakita carried on whining, lying down restless, tossing and turning on his mattress.

"Shall I turn off the lights yo...?" Fukatsu announced, addressing to those reading some books, fixing their stuff, and those who aren't ready to sleep yet.

"Yeah..." All, except Sawakita confirmed in unison upon keeping all of their stuff then tucking themselves on their mattresses that laid side by side together down the floor.

"Sawakita..." Fukatsu called Sawakita's attention. "You ready to sleep yo?"

"Yeah.." he muttered in a low reluctant voice, before tucking himself under the quilt. Fukatsu then flicked the switch off finally.

Fukatsu then carefully made his way to his mattress that laid besides Sawakita, making sure he won't step on anyone.

"Good night yo..."

"Yeah... Good night too..." And again everyone in unison except Sawakita, before silence started to ensue...

.

.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sawakita shrieked startling the hell out of everyone making Minoru, the one nearest to the switch jolt up and dash to open the lights.

"What the hell is it this time Sawakita!" Everyone ticked, with their enraged eyes all on Sawakita...

"Umm haha" Sawakita just scratched the back of his head with a guilty choked laughter responded... "I thought I forgot something? teehee..."

Still, everyone is glaring at him without a word...

"I... I think I gotta pee?" He then sprinted to the door and dashed out of it the banging it close.

"'tch... what a pain in the ass..." Masashi grunted before proceeding back to his mattress... "Mikio, aren't you gonna take a piss too?"

"Naahh..." Mikio responded. "I'm rather bothered with this short quilt and mattress... I need a bigger one..."

"Just roll to your side and crouch."...

"Okay brother..."

"Alright. This is the last yo..." Fukatsu irritated finally shut the lights off, then finally heading to his mattress as well.

* * *

"He's supposed to be here, right?" Naomi asked, tapping her fingers impatiently on the table. "It's like 8 in the evening."

Ayako decided not to join them as she still had a lot to do so the two just went together instead.

"I don't know... he usually comes late... haha." Mika let out a sheepish giggle.

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah? He's just awkward and he doesn't talk much since he's really bad on keeping conversations and giving appropriate and encouraging remarks, but he's actually nice to me..."

"Connection please?

"I mean, he is bad at formalities, and such. He isnt usually punctual and he might appear standoffish too sometimes. Don't worry! I think YOU GUYS would get along well... haha!" Mika gave her friend a reassurance, with an eager look in her eyes.

"Whatever..." Naomi rolled her eyes. "He should at least show up on time, specially when meeting a girl, like you said you're childhood friends. Seriously, he can't make a maiden wait, jeez..." Naomi, a step close to snapping off, instead plunged the fork in her plate of spaghetti and twirled it before serving herself a mouthful. "If he doesn't come at 8:30, whether you LIKE IT OR NOT, we're leaving..."

"What? No!" Mika objected. "Give the guy a chance? He could be busy or something? I haven't seen him for quite some time, and I really want you guys to meet!"

"You said 'usually'. It means he often regards you unimportant and he might be a total asshole and seems like youre the only one who cares about him in here."

"Why are you making such presumptions?"

"Once a dick always a dick. We still got 30 minutes left... time is ticking..."

"Well... yeah, making people wait is kinda jerk-ish of him. But believe me, I never had issues with him, and we never had quarelled eversince!" Mika reassured. "Although, sadly those chicks on his jock are always on our way... pestering him..."

"See?!" Naomi interjected with contempt. "Guurl, that's a huge give away that there's no point on still talking to that jerk!" Sapped out of patience, Naomi stood up and grabbed her sling bag up. "Sorry, but if he's making us wait like an idiot here, I gotta say your friend is a dick and you should stop putting up with his shit... I'm going!"

"Naomi!?" Mika tried to at least convince her to stay... "You haven't even finished your spaghetti!"

"Just bag it up!" Naomi threw a hand, waving goodbye whilst she marched down the alley heading to the glass-door exit. "Let's meet at the public court tomorrow at 6! I need to see that pretty-boy Fujima play... teehee!"

"I thought you liked Sendoh better?!"

"Yeah, but I still like both! (winks)"

Mika then just shook her head, with a smile on her face waving back to her naughty, high-spirited, outgoing friend who was also a popular chick herself, being both good looking, academically excellent, and a well-known player nationwide.

* * *

"Holy shit, I'm LATE!" Sawakita ran in full-speed, cutting through every obstacle standing blankly around the lively night streets of Kanagawa.

No wonder why he feels restless, while something at the back of his head was reminding him that he had entirely forgotten something important for this day.

And that was to meet his childhood friend who had promised to bring with her and introduce him a friend of her that has exactly the same interests and abilities as him.

It was supposed to be at 7 however...

"It's almost 9!" Whilst running he glanced to his watch to check time. "I'm almost there!" He can now see the glass door... Just a little more. A few more steps and...

**BAM!** He pushed his way in to look around...

and unfortunately found no sign of his childhood friend around. "Mika... homie, where are you!?" He thought as he started to finally slow down, still panting gasping for some air after some minutes of racing against time.  
"I knew I won't make it..." He shrugged, then finding his way to the exit. "She never gets mad at me anyways haha..."

"Who won't get mad at you?!"

A familiar voice spoke behind him the moment he just made it out of the exit.

* * *

"Mikio! Dammit!" Masashi grumbled. "Will you stop wiggling around! I can't fuckin sleep!"

"Brother, I really need a bigger mattress!" Mikio complained, feeling uncomfortable of his current hunched situation with the short blanket and mattress. Hunching, tossing and turning around for like more than 30 minutes already, trying to find a way to fit himself in it.

"Why can't you just ignore it and fuckin go to sleep?" Masashi finally ticked.

"Yo... what's that fuss about?" Fukatsu who was still awake, trying to get himself to sleep, inquired slightly bothered. First by Sawakita then next, this one.

"Nothing." Masashi again in his usual calm yet stern monotone. "Just this airhead, bitching over nothing..."

"When you get sleepy enough, you might not be able to notice it anymore Mikio... just stay in one place, don't move, stare at the ceiling and soon you'll feel sleepy. You'll get used to it..." suggested the king of endurance, Ichinokura who was also still awake, overhearing the fuss around.

"Why don't we just call for a room-service and ask for a bigger bedding for him?" Minoru added.

"So none of ya'll have been sleeping yo..." Fukatsu pointed out.

"Actually, Minoru makes sense as I myself sorta needs a bigger..." Nobe seconded Minoru's opinion but interrupted the moment the door slid open, revealing a familiar silhouette, that eventually flicked the lights on to say...

"Alright, boys, what is this fuss about?" It was Doumoto-sensei.

"Ahhh the light burns..." They all squinted, as their eyes were adjusting to the sudden re-appearance of a bright light.

"Sensei yo. Mikio and Nobe need a bigger mattress yo..." Fukatsu spoke in behalf of everyone as the team leader.

"(sigh)..." Doumoto-sensei with his palm on his face shook his head... "You should've just called for room-service at once... but okay, I'll do it for you guys. Hold on..." And even before Doumoto-sensei could leave, he noticed something upon looking around the room...

"Wait... WHERE IS SAWAKITA!?"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 4**


	5. Hunting down Sawakita

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

"Who won't get mad at you?!"

A familiar voice spoke behind him the moment he just made it out of the exit.

Mika, with her arms crossed around her chest, tapping her foot to the ground impatiently.

"Teehee..." Sawakita rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish and awkward grin. "Sorry?..." 

* * *

"That twat..." Masashi grunted whilst scurrying along the lively and bright night streets of downtown Kanagawa with the rest of the Sannoh seniors who were admonished by Doumoto-sensei not to return to the inn without Sawakita with them.

* * *

_"What?!" The seniors, Masashi, Fukatsu, Nobe and Minoru blurted out in unison._

_"An order is an order!" Doumoto-sensei strongly imposed to the seniors his order. And that is to find Sawakita by all means, and not to return to the inn without him. "You seniors were to blame in the first place for letting him out without permission. You know how much of a trouble it would be!"_

_"But we just had started to sleep! That punk was no more of a child for us to be held responsible of his wherea-" Masashi impatiently reacted upon._

_"I'm the Captain yo. My bad yo. I wasn't able to keep track on him when he said he was just gonna take a piss yo..." Fukatsu however took account of the said fault._

* * *

"Let's admit it. We had been pretty lenient on him a while ago yo..." Fukatsu suggested while looking around carefully and attentively still.

"Well, who would know he really intended to sneak out? We're definitely not to blame about that." Masashi still objective about the order.

"And for fuck's sake, he's like 17? Who cares? He might be back in a few hours or so. Why don't we just wait?" Nobe added, looking around also.

"He's not as obedient and well-behaved like Mikio though. We would never know, whatever he is doing now might cause him not to be able to play tomorrow..." Minoru however stated in contrary.

"I'm so gonna fucking kill him..." Masashi gritting his teeth in irritation spoke while looking anyway. 

* * *

"I'm not gonna treat you dinner no more. We've waited for you for like 400 years. I hate you..." Mika, sat still on the swing, while her arms wound around the chain handle. She swung her legs, pouting while kicking stones.

"Don't worry! I had a lot for dinner." Sawakita, usually insensitive of people's sentiments, coming from his childish nature, bluntly responded without malice, smiling. "Where's your friend anyways? The one you told me you would like me to meet?" He asked gleefully.

"She left..." Mika without looking back at him, eyes set on the floor said, sulking. "Like I said, you made us wait like forever..."

"Hey! Give me credits for sneaking out! I did my best to get here...!" Sawakita wailed, in his usual whiny and childish tone. "I was really exhausted I forgot the..."

"Alright, alright. I get it. I can see the efforts..." Mika, finally smiled interrupting him. "How's you anyways? You've gotten really tall!"

"HAHA! Yeah, sort of! A lot have happened though... I think you know why we're here?" With a sudden change of tone, he asked. 

* * *

"HOLD IT!" Nobe blurted out, letting the rest to a halt upon getting a sight of someone familiar. "There he is!" Pointing out to the nearby, quiet and empty playground. They gathered around to take a look from the fence.

There they found Sawakita, sitting on the swing besides a girl who sat too on the other side.

"THAT-!" Even before Masashi could storm in, Fukatsu stopped him.

"Ssssh..." Fukatsu bended down in order not to be seen, and the rest of them did so leaving Masashi the only one standing.

"Sit down yo..." Fukatsu bid Masashi. "He might see us..."

"Who would know he actually snuck out on us to see a girl?!" 

* * *

"Well, I'm gonna be watching your match tomorrow with Shoyo and she would be coming with me anyways so you might still see her again!" Mika with enthusiasm suggested.

Sawakita remained speechless, seemingly lost in his train of thoughts. He was reflecting upon still on their team's loss, looking back on how everything happened. At the same time halfway feeling the upcoming challenge upon finally finding someone who he can match his skills with. He thought, before leaving Japan, he needs to at least prove to himself, that he had beaten his counterpart, and give the crown back to them as the reigning champion.

"Hey! Are you listening?!" Mika yelled, awakening him from his thoughts.

"Uhh, sorry... I was sorta preoccupied..."

Mika sighed, and reached her hand to give him a pat and rubbed his back, as a sign of sympathy and understanding to his current situation. 

* * *

"See that!?" Minoru whispered out loud in a held back exclamation upon what he just saw. "She just rubbed his back!"

"I never knew he had a girlfriend. A long distance relationship...!" Nobe followed, nodding his elongated face as an expression of curiosity on the matter.

"Hmph... That twat..." Masashi, still unconvinced and irritated rolled his eyes.

"Now we know, we can leave him... yo" Fukatsu finally stood up, shaking some leaves that got stuck on his pants. "We can't tell him that we have been prying on his private matters. Let's just pretend we saw nothing...yo"

"Leave? Remember we were told to bring him back with us or else..?!" Minoru contradicted.

"We would stalk him till we could find the right time to meet him and say it was just a coincidence meeting him on the way...yo" 

* * *

"Well, it's getting late..? Perhaps?" Mika stood up from the swing, fixing her dress. "My mom would surely kill me haha"

"You can tell her you went to see me with a friend? Hahaha, she knows me!" Sawakita too followed, walking together out of the playground.

"Yeah I guess so..." Mika then brought herself to a halt. "Soo, I'll be taking this route to the left. And you?" She asked.

"I'm heading south haha. We are staying in an inn at the moment..."

"I see..." She nodded. "Bye bye!" She waved, as she moved along, still looking back at him.

"Bye!" He waved back, smiling at her. 

* * *

10 pm. He pushed the glass door of the main entrance of the inn, then heading to the reception area. Passing by the lobby lounge...

"Where have you been...yo"

A familiar voice behind him.

"Ahhhh...?" He started stammering before looking back. 

* * *

"Don't you ever sneak on us again! UNDERSTOOD!?" With a low yet strong tone, Doumoto-sensei reprimanded Sawakita who was caught red-handed the moment he went back. He sat cross legged on his mattress, fiddling with his hands, while staring blankly on the ground, guilty. "Yeah... Sorry... I would never sneak out again... I just happened to forget to buy something so I went out..."

"Whatever your intention is, you can always ask for permission." Doumoto-sensei with objection, interfered. "You even had to get your senpais in trouble..."

"I'm sorry again..." Sawakita bowed his head down as a sign of an apology. "Can we just go to sleep now?"

"(sigh) Alright..." Addressing to Sawakita, then turning to the seniors. "Make sure you guard the doors. Fukatsu, You are in charge, and you Minoru by the door!"

"Hai..." The two in unison replied, Masashi pointing a finger in each of his own eyes then flicking them on Sawakita.

"The rest of you also. Don't keep your guards down..." Then Doumoto-sensei, slid the door open and flicked the lights off before sliding it back close.

_"'tch... teenagers..."_

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 5**


	6. Today's the day

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc. 

* * *

6 am.

"Urrrrghhh" Sawakita, still in pajamas with a towel hanging around his neck, groaned while staggering his way to the bathroom, "I said, give me 5 minutes more... why are you all so mean to me?" He mumbled with his eyes half open, upon reaching the sink, smearing some toothgel on the toothbrush before nonchalantly putting it in his mouth srcubbing his teeth. The rest of them lining up against the sink too, doing their own thing, shaving, washing face, etc., looked closely at his every move.

"WHAT!?" He called out on them for making him uncomfortable by their awkward stares. "What did I do again ya'll staring at me like all that?!"

"You liar..." Masashi before going back to his thing, drying his face with a towel muttered.

"Where have you been last night yo?" Fukatsu, whilst shaving followed.

"I- I told you guys! I went out to buy some stuff!" He stammered. "I came back! Why is it such a big deal for you guys?"

They all continued staring at him blankly, without a word, stopping whatever they were doing for the moment.

"WAIT A SECOND! You guys have been spying on me!" He blurted out, pointing his finger at them all.

"It was an order. As if we had a choice!" Nobe explained. "We don't even care enough to spy on you!"

"If you needed to see your girlfriend, why didn't you just ask sensei for a permission? He would understand!" Minoru lastly suggested.

"WHAT!? GIRLFRIEND?!" Sawakita yelled out with strong objection.

"Huh? What are they talking about?" Mikio however, 100% unaware of things asked Ichinokura who gave him a shrug as a reply, as he himself didn't know either because the rest of the time the seniors were out in the cold to find Sawakita, they were already sound asleep. 

* * *

"Yeah... so that's it..." Sawakita, finally giving an end to the doubts and intrigue, explained to them everything while they all sat around the long table, eating once again a bountiful breakfast in preparation for this morning's match.

"You should've told me, you lil brat..." Doumoto-sensei just shook his head before sipping on his coffee. "It's normal to attend to personal affairs as long as..."

"I REPEAT, SHE'S JUST A FRIEND! GEEEEZ!" Sawakita strongly protested, not even letting his coach to finish his words.

"Alright, a 'FRIEND' then...at the moment..." They were all grinning at him, taunting him maliciously.

"I can't believe you guys... Go get some lives" He just rolled his eyes giving up, proceeding on his bowl of rice.

"Boys, we had to leave at 7, remember that..." Doumoto-sensei scolded.

"Hai..." 

* * *

"Haaa..." The rest of the Gundan let out a deep sigh, upon reaching the mezzanine balcony just above the court, overlooking the rehearsing teams below on each of their sides of the court before the match starts.

10 minutes left.

"Haha! Looks like we're the first one to arrive from our school..." Yohei said while looking around, finding some unfamiliar faces who apparently came to watch as well.

"Compared to our school gym, this one looked pretty neat... a private school indeed..." Noma wandered his eyes upon every corner, amused about the said gym's splendid built.

"It may also mean we were too early... I still feel sleepy... thanks to you Hanamichi!" Takamiya scoffed, addressing sarcasm to Hanamichi.

"Yeah!" Ookusu strongly agreed nodding. "Like, Why the hell do we have to tag along with you when this isn't even your match, Hanamichi?" Ookusu turning to the absent-minded Hanamichi who had his eyes glued down the court.

"I can't believe it! I really thought he was hairless..." Hanamichi mumbled, who still can't get over about Shoyo's new look, specially Fujima.

"SAKURAGI-KUN! YOHEI-TACHI!" From behind a familiar voice wailed catching their attention.

"Haruko-chan!" The four of them waved back, wherein they were set-aside by Hanamichi dashing up-front who were previously in a blank mood, now back to being hyper. "YO! HARUKO-CHAN!" He shook her hands, in extreme bliss seeing his 'love-of-his-life' coincidentally at an unexpected moment.

"I'm surprised to see you here! Sensei didn't inform you guys about this Practice Match..." She said in delight to see the gang around.

"NYAHAHAHA! You talk like you don't know me! I'm a genius after all!"

**KABLAAAMMM!**

Then a huge throbbing lump emerged from Hanamichi's head... "Don't you dare hold her with your filthy hands, moron..." Akagi, along with Haruko, who came to watch as well.

"G-Gorrriii!" Hanamichi whilst cupping the lump in his head mumbled.

"What a ruckus... so early in the morning..." Another familiar voice.

"We're in someone else's territory after all... Ya'll need to keep your cool for fuck's sake..." And another.

"MIT-CHI! RYO-CHIIIIIN!" Hanamichi wailed. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE!"

"It's more like a question we had for you, dumbass!" Mitsui countered.

"NO NO NO! Oyaji didn't inform you guys about this! I'm very sure he didn't! The credits suppose to go to me! NOT TO YOU GUYS!" Hanamichi continued blabbering turning around to everyone.

"That's cuz you left early last night, you twerp." Ayako cut in.

"Sensei came back giving us a follow-up instruction.. sorry though not to be able to inform you, Sakuragi-kun." Kogure with a sheepish smile apologized.

"AYAKO-SAN! MEGANE-KUN TOO! B-b-b-BUUUTTT!"

"How did you know about this anyway, Hanamichi?" Miyagi asked anyways out of curiosity. "We all tried to find you last night to inform you, but wasn't able to."

"BECAUSE I AM A-"

"We met them on our way to Pachinko last night haha." Yohei however answered for Hanamichi interrupting him. 

* * *

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! LAST-FIVE-MINUTES!" The loud, shrill sound of the student-referee's whistle echoed around the gym.

"ASSEMBLE!"

Doumoto-sensei's calling voice alerted the whole team, all of them gathering together to hear their coach's final instructions a few minutes before the match starts. They are all ready, finally wearing each of their respective jerseys

"I've got nothing much to instruct to you guys as we have already discussed everything last night. I must still remind all of you though, that this team, even if you guys haven't faced them yet during the time being you have been here, is not a small-fry team and therefore you should not go easy on them."

"We know that sir... yo..."

"They are all desperate to win too, just like us, to bring ourselves back to our respective thrones. That only means, they all intend to beat us down by any means, especially in front of the team who dethroned both of us. Both... HAVING ONLY ONE GOAL."

"OU!" Flaming with determination they shouted out in unison.

"Fukatsu, as planned, we all know Fujima would definitely be into the game at ince by the first half, so you know what to do." He then addressed to Fukatsu before turning to the rest... "We would stop them from scoring in the first half, focusing into defense. Nobe, Masashi, Ichinokura. You guys do your thing."

"Hai!"

"For the second half, we would go all-out on Offense, subbing out Ichinokura for Minoru. As most of them have already used up their energy during the first half, leaving them exhausted during the second half would definitely give us more room to score, making sure we would at least give it a 30-40 point difference. Sawakita!... You know what to do...!"

Addressing it to Sawakita, everyone expecting a response from him.

"Sawakita!?" Once again Doumoto-sensei called out upon noticing...

.

HE'S NOT ACTUALLY AROUND!

"**SAWAKITAAAA**!" 

* * *

"What a coincidence... of all the places, seeing you again here..." Sawakita, with a smug yet innocent grin in his face, greeted.

"So, did you even become the #1 in Japan yet?" Sawakita continued, addressing it in a challenging tone... "Rukawa?"

Stood by the post in an alley around the secluded back area of the gym, right in front of Sawakita, was Rukawa.

"You're only good at bullshitting... telling everyone you're going to America and all that..." Rukawa struck him back with sarcasm.

"I see you're not happy about it haha... Aren't you happy yet about being chosen to take part on that All-Japan Junior Camp?" 

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 6**


	7. Lost again!

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc. 

* * *

"This is it..."

Fujima after taking some few deep breaths finally spoke out.

The whole team in green gathered along the bench on their side of the court, having some final discussions to boost the team's morale for today's big match.

"We have always looked forward to this day, and just when we thought we had lost hope being eliminated by Shohoku on the preliminaries, who would know they would actually have the same fate as us..." Fujima continued. "Shohoku is watching... and in a few Kainan would be too..."

"we can't afford to screw this up this time."

"OU!"

"You all knew what to do... Hanagata, Takano, Nagano, Kazushi... I'm all counting on you."

BEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP!

And finally, the student-referee blew the whistle as a signal for both teams to gather on the court.

"Shoyoooooo...~ FIGHT!"

"**OU**!"

The five of them throwing their fists up in the air, as they marched towards the court, all in high-spirits, full determination, considering this as a fight to prove them worthy back to their throne. 

* * *

"I see you're not happy about it haha... Aren't you happy yet about being chosen to take part on that All-Japan Junior Camp?"

Sawakita, still keeping his cool, threw him another sarcasm, however in a less intimidating tone, being careful not to stir up a fight with this hot-headed guy who have been dying for a rematch.

"I gotta go though, the match starts in a few moments. I just snuck out to take a piss... See ya later..." As Sawakita turned his back to head back, Rukawa once again voiced out.

"Why aren't we included..." Rukawa still in his monotone, underlies a tone of aggression and stress, stopped Sawakita on his tracks by such question. 

* * *

_"12 points... just 6 more minutes..."_

_Sawakita stood in front of him. Eyeing every move he does carefully._

_Despite the loud noises around, all he can hear was the ball's bouncing as Miyagi dribbled it in his hands, anticipating to pass it to him..._

_His confidence had started to escape slowly out of his spirit, still lost and perplexed._

_"Japan's # 1?" Sawakita enounced with a smug grin in his face._

_"Huh?"_

_"To be the #1 player in Japan... that's it right?" Sawakita asked further with hints of belittlement._

_"It's none of your fucking business" Confused, still at a loss of words, trying to catch his breath._

_"Then do it," Sawakita continued. "...In a Japan without me..."_

* * *

Sawakita, finding such question instigating, did not know how to answer it, leaving a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Too afraid to get beaten by us again?" Rukawa continued asking...

By such statement, Sawakita was brought one step closer to snapping off. He was actually bothered at the same time by the fact that this guy, at this very moment chose to stir up a fight with him.

"Excuse me? US..? The reigning champion?" Sawakita still smiling however in a more impatient and sarcastic tone than a while ago raised a brow. "That's hilarious... considering you all just got lucky with that one..."

And once again Sawakita finally turned back and this time for real. Without looking back, he threw an arm up in the air waving it whilst running to the gym... "Catch ya later!"

Rukawa stood still as he watched Sawakita fade away...

...those words still haunting his mind...

"_...In a Japan without me.._." 

* * *

DRIBBLE... DRIBBLE... SCREEECH! THUD THUD...

DEFENSE! DEFENSE!

OFFENSE! OFFENSE!

Those sounds echoed around the court, along with different yells, cheering and chattering as the game ensued

"SLAAAAAM!"

Hanagata landed on the floor with a loud slam as he threw the ball frantically back to the court. "FUJIMAAAA!"

"NICE SAVE!" Fujima on the run caught the ball in his hands automatically, as Fukatsu dashing towards him.

"I won't let you this time, yo..."

Fujima, on a face-off with Fukatsu.

First 3 minutes.

[Shoyo - 02 Sannoh Kogyo - 00]

Fujima took the first point with a jump shot, cutting through Fukatsu's defense.

BOUNCE... SLAPPP!

Fujima, passing the ball, now in Hasegawa's hands, him aiming for a three-pointer.

"MIKIOOO! ICHINOKURA!"

The two ran to block Hasegawa in which unexpectedly...

"WHAT THE!..."

Hasegawa, even before the two can land their feet back to the ground, then bent his knees down bouncing the ball once again down under, anticipating Fujima to catch it back...

SLAAAAAPPP!

"Lame yo..." Fukatsu, with the speed of lightning, stealing the ball, now in his hands. "I told you... it's our turn this time yo..." 

* * *

"I still can't get over that beard thing..." Hanamichi still mumbling by the balcony, following Fujima's every movement by his eyes.

"Same here... not just him but all of these wierd shit going on in them..." Takamiya nodded. "The shaved brows creep me out the most..."

"Is that some tactic to distract the opponent? Seems like those stuff only work on imbeciles like someone over here..." Ookusu indirectly addressing it to Hanamichi.

"And who is that imbecile you're talking about!"

"Just like you, they prolly did that as a punishment to themselves and a also a motivation at the same time..." Yohei stated. "Don't you have plans to grow your hair longer though, Hanamichi?"

"Naaah... I looked more like a legit basketball player this way, NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"There really is something wrong with this match..." Mitsui rubbing his chin spoke, while watching the slowly intensifying match below.

"Other than both being too tense, Sannoh seems to take Shoyo too lightly..." Miyagi, added in agreement.

"Neither of their aces came out to play..." Ayako continued. "It's a downright insult..."

"Yeah... I've never seen Sawakita around, not even on the benches..." Kogure pointed out as well. "Although, as far as I can see from up here, the one in their benches even their coach was a bit too tensed also..." 

* * *

"SAWAKITAAA...!" Doumoto-sensei gritted his teeth while impatiently tapping his foot on the ground, walking back and forth, restless. "Minoru!"

"Y-yes sir!" Minoru startled, inadvertently blurted out upon being hastily called upon.

"Did he even asked for any of you guys' permission?! WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO!"

"SIR!" Running back to them are a group of Sannoh benchwarmers who were asked to find Sawakita, but unfortunately unsuccesful. "We weren't able to find him anywhere sir!"

"**THAT BRAAAAT!**" 

* * *

"Phew!" Naomi arrived panting... "Sorry! Kinda got lost... Wasn't too familiar about this place...!"

"You're late... pffft." Mika scoffed. "The match has already started... But it's okay... It was just like 3 minutes..."

"Soooo! Where's Fujima!" Naomi enthusiastically shifted herself near the balcony to finally get a sight of the match and one of the said heart throbs she always loved to see play. "HOLY CRAP!"

Just as the same reaction as Hanamichi, the revolting sight of Fujima having facial hair and the rest of the team's 'new look' drove her crazy.

"W-WHAT THE FUCK!"

Mika though, not even giving a heed to all those quirks on Shoyo's new look, seemed to be a bit preoccupied about a certain matter, her eyes locked at that area of the gym for Sannoh.

Naomi upon noticing the bothered look on her friend's face asked... "What's the matter?"

"He's not here..." 

* * *

"_SHIT I'm lost_!"

Sawakita scurried here and there, trying to fnd his way back to the gym. Apparently, the moment he left Rukawa, he took the wrong alley that lead him to another building and now he cant find his way back.

"Uhh excuse me?" To his relief he finally caught sight of a passer-by he can ask directions from. "Where is the gym again?" 

* * *

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAHHHH!"

The crowd started to roar wildly after Fukatsu managed to gain back the points by a four-point play, in which Hasegawa committed a defensive foul before Fukatsu's attempt for a three pointer got succesful. And now succesfully got his one free throw in, effortlessly.

"WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"SANNOH! SANNOH!"

5 Minutes.

[Shoyo - 02 Sannoh Kogyo - 04]

"UWAAAAAAAAAAA! SORRY I'M LAAAAATE!"

Finally, there's Sawakita, darting from the back door up to their benches, beeing greeted back by the infuriated, angry faces of his coach, as well as his teammates who was on the court too.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN! YOU IDIOOOOTTT!" 

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 7**


	8. Reserve

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc. 

* * *

"Ah! There he is!" Ayako exclaimed upon finally catching sight of the awaited ace. "Sawakita is here...!"

"That #9..." Hanamichi muttered while grinning. "That #9 that beat the shit out of that stupid fox, teehee...!"

"You can't think of anything meaningful, can you Hanamichi?" Miyagi sighed at Hanamichi's usual idiotic antics.

"Speaking of Rukawa... haven't seen him anywhere... that's surprising..." Kogure noticed.

"He prolly doesn't have the guts to face Sawakita again yet... haha" Mitsui supposed. "That arrogant brat..." 

* * *

"BELIEVE ME! It's that Rukawa dude who stopped me on my way! IT WAS HIS FAULT!" Sawakita blabbered on, trying to defend himself from the accusations of his angry teammates and his coach.

"Of all the lamest excuses! In the first place, that dude wasn't even around!" Doumoto-sensei opposed strongly. "I always have reminded you!"

"B-but...!"

"SIT THE FUCK DOWN!"

"Fine... (sigh)" Sawakita rolled his eyes, still mumbling eventually sat down... "When just last night y'all even told me to be honest about everything... tch..."

"Watch closely Sawakita." Doumoto-sensei, back to his usual tone, told Sawakita. "You too Minoru..."

"Familiarize every single move. Second half is still 14 minutes away." 

* * *

"_Doahou..._" Rukawa muttered as he stood by the farthest corner of the balcony still overlooking the match below, away from those people who knew him specially his teammates who have been a bit confused as to why he wasn't visible anywhere.

"_You call yourself the best in Japan, yet you act worse than an imbecile. I can't believe I lost to you..._"

* * *

"LOUDER!"

Shoyo's cheering squad, in high-spirits as well, cheered louder to boost their team's confidence, as they were facing Japan's #1 Highschool Basketball Team that have just been dethroned.

"**IKE IKE SHOYO! OSE OSE SHOYO!**"

"_Dammit...! I have to find a way to pull those aces out of the bench..._"

Fujima thought to himself, glancing to Sawakita and Minoru on the bench, while sprinting back and forth, keeping up to Sannoh's unbreakable defense.

"_We need to score more, as fast as we could!_" Catching the ball passed to him by Takano. "

Fujima then looked straight into Fukatsu eyes, raising his arms high up to execute a jump-shot.

"You never learn yo...!" Fukatsu dashing back to Fujima, aiming to jump, when in a split second...

"Don't underestimate us..." Fujima then cuts in, breaking through Fukatsu's defense, this time aiming for a lay-up... "HANAGATA!"

**THUD!**

In a blink of an eye, Fujima then bounces the ball from below towards Hanagata, who caught it with a 100% accuracy, now going for another jump-shot.

"As if I'd let you!" Nobe jumped up right in front of Hanagata to block.

With a smirk, Hanagata then thrusted himself backwards, before being able to throw the ball in the air, passing through Nobe's defense...

"FADE-AWAY...!"

**Shoot!**

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOO!"

Once again, the crowd roared louder as Shoyo finally took their second score, tying up to Sannoh.

8 minutes.

[Shoyo - 04 Sannoh Kogyo - 04] 

* * *

"Who do you mean 'HE'?" Naomi asked concerning her friend's bothered condition.

"Eiji-kun... my childhood friend I've been telling you about..." Mika answered in a slightly worried tone, her eyes still wandering around the gym, not noticing that Sawakita had already taken a seat on the benches.

"He's from Shoyo?!"

"Nooo! Sannoh! geeez..." Mika rolled her eyes.

"Ahhhh! Okay, okay! Sorry I forgot... I was too disturbed about Fujima's beard..." Naomi just scratched the back of her head. "Well, maybe he was sick or something? Or he's just a benchwarmer and he didn't really need to play?"

"A BENCHWARMER? No way...!" Mika objected. "You never listened to me, have you? I always have told you, he's just like you!"

"Hey, I DO listen! He's that MVP douchebag right? That one who did not show up last night?" Naomi raised a brow, folding her arms to her chest. "I don't make people wait... so, that makes us 'different' haha...!"

"Hey, he did show up!" Mika still objecting. "And he's gotten more handsome..." Mika then blushed by the thought of seeing Sawakita again last night after some period of time, now gotten taller, and manlier than before.

"Too bad, you're not gonna be able to see him..." 

* * *

Shoyo ruled through out the whole first half managing to break through Sannoh's tight defense.

[Shoyo - 28 Sannoh Kogyo - 22]

However, things did not go as how Shoyo wanted it, still Sannoh's aces, Sawakita and Minoru on the benches. Fujima scoring 15 points, while the rest in all scored 13. With a total of 28 points, giving it a 6 point difference, Shoyo took the lead against Sannoh.

Half-time Break, inside the locker rooms...

"6 point difference... that's what they get for underestimating us..." Hasegawa said with confidence, although exhausted.

"I don't think they are underestimating us..." Hanagata, wiping his face dry with a towel while sitting down contradicted.

"Sannoh is trying to wear us out..." Fujima, after gobbling mouthfuls of Gatorade finally spoke, still breathless. "We needed to maintain that lead no matter what..."

"Huh?" The rest of the team, except Hanagata looked back at their playing-coach, who had been previously bothered about the situation.

"They were quite lenient in scoring at the moment and focused on defense..." Fujima continued. "We can usually score up to 30 or more points within the first half..."

"Using that giant lardball #15, and that #8 who was known to be an expert on defense, saving that MVP ace #9 and their other ace #6 for later..." Hanagata further stated.

"Looks like what we did to Shohoku before did backfire us..." 

* * *

"Indeed." Akagi spoke out. "This indeed is a familiar scenario..."

"Eh?" Ayako, Kogure and the rest looked back at Akagi.

"Only that back then, Shoyo pretty much underestimated us... This time, Sannoh INTENDED to wear them out before getting back at them on the second-half..."

"That #8 and #6 again... pffft" Mitsui scoffed, remembering the match quite a month ago. "Good luck with that, Shoyo..."

"What to expect...? Aren't they the reigning champion?" Someone spoke from the behind. "Too bad their Girl's Division wasn't as good as this one... didn't even had the chance to have a match against Sannoh Girls' Division..."

"Naomi!" Ayako ran to her light-featured friend who stood out the crowd for looking a bit different. "Naomi-san! Konnichiwa!" Haruko, Sakuragi and the gundan greeted back as well.

"Hey guys!" She greeted back with a smile.

"Surprised to see you here!" Ayako said.

"I came to see Fujima play and to my dismay I arrived to all of these weird shit instead... haha" Naomi retorted. "I can't wait to see Ryonan vs. Sannoh. Then I'll see Sendoh play! Teehee!"

"I have no idea how someone like you who only cared about 'cute guys' became th National MVP..." Ayako shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Back then you even used to fangirl Rukawa and Mitsu-"

"SHUUUUSSSSHHHH!" Quickly covering Ayako's mouth up, Naomi interrupted her. "He might hear you!" In a loud whisper.

"Alright, alright..." Ayako then sighed after breaking through Naomi's clutches. "I can't blame you for having a different taste in men after all haha! They really are good looking hahaha!" Ayako let out a loud chuckle, followed by Naomi as well.

"Oh! Where is Mika by the way?" Ayako noticing it finally asked.

"E- ehh!" Upon looking around, Naomi was surprised not to see Mika anywhere... "S-she was here a while ago..." 

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 8**


	9. Turning tables around

Heya! It takes quite long for me to update since I am quite a busy person. Although I was almost done with this entire fic, I have been uploading it little by little.

I am quite glad about the constantly increasing views in every chapter even though I dont get reviews, so yeah.. THANKS EVERYONE ^^  
**  
DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

"Phew! I thought you did not attend the match intentionally!" Mika sighed in relief. "You were just actually in reserve haha!"

"Yeah.. haha..." Sawakita chuckled. "That stupid Rukawa dude..."

They were standing by the door outside the locker room.

"Eh? Rukawa-kun? You still see him even after last month's match?" Mika confused, asked.

"Not really... Just this morning, he stopped me while I was on my way back to the gym, and that's why I got late..." Sawakita explained, shrugging. "That dude's got HUGE issues..."

"I see..." Mika nodded. "He doesn't seem to be that friendly to us either. He doesn't even talk or hangout with his teammates nor classmates other than the casual basketball and school matters..." She continued.

"ANYWAYS!" Diverting the convo... "My friend is here! I can intro her to you now!"

* * *

"So far our strategy is working." Doumoto sensei acknowledged the teams' job well done. "Well done, guys..."

"OU!" They answered back, despite breathless, still in high-spirits.

"Unexpectedly though, they were pretty good. Every now and then breaking through our defense, and even gave it a 6 point difference..." He added. "However, that only means, there wouldn't be any slacking around by the moment the second half starts..."

"That #4 Fujima guy was really good yo..." Fukatsu spoke still panting a bit. "After all, he wouldn't be a playing-coach for nothing... yo"

"It's not just that #4 but the rest of them..." Doumoto-sensei supposed. "Only that they rely the scores more on that #4..."

"Yeah, although the case might turn out that they had already seen right through our plan..." Masashi followed. "They might change sTrategies as well..."

"Whatever it is, it would be too late. They're quite used up, and we still had Sawakita and Minoru for reserve. If that's the case, we can also change strategies as well anyways..." Doumoto-sensei assured. "If so, most likely a Full Court Press would work."

"And speaking of Sawakita... he's gone again..." Nobe pointed out.

"Don't worry about him." Doumoto-sensei worry-free responded. "I already gave him and Minoru instructions before the Half-time Break started."

* * *

"Your friend?" Sawakita asked, confused not seeing anyone around with her. "Where?"

"E-EEEH!?" Startled not to see her friend anywhere, Mika looked around stammering. "B-but she walked together with me up to here just a few moments ago! Didn't you see her?!"

"Nope?" Sawakita raised a brow. "You were alone when you came here."

"Gah!" Mika groaned. "I think she still hates you about yesterday..."

* * *

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

Once again, the loud shrill sound of the whistle echoed around the gym, signalling both Centers of the team to gather in the middle for the tip-off.

Both teams, marching up front... with determined faces and high spirits.

"We would increase the lead, and definitely win..." Fujima told himself before, yelling out to boost the team's morale. "SHOYOO!"

"FIGHT!"

"No more slacking around this time yo... Sawakita.. you're our ace yo. Live up to such expectations yo..." Fukatsu addressing to Sawakita.

"Sure..." With a smirk, Sawakita assured.

Then Fukatsu to the rest "We MUST definitely win, no matter what... yo"

"OU!"

The tip-off commenced with Hanagata tapping the ball to their side, making the first turn theirs. Hasting to get a score, Fujima went for a Fast-Break in which unexpectedly, he failed and this time they needed to go for the rebound wherein the #1 rebounder, Nobe gets the ball, passing it to Masashi. Before the clock ticks 30 seconds, Sannoh managed to get the first score for the second half.

"The revenge has started..." Maki who was actually watching the match from an unseen angle thought.

"No matter how strong Shoyo is, Sannoh is still Sannoh..." Kiyota along with Maki muttered. "Shohoku just got lucky against them.. tch!" He scoffed.

"Kiyota, didn't I always tell you not to underestimate the opponent?" Maki reminded Kiyota. "Next week wouold be our turn..."

"I know I know!" Kiyota wailed. "And seems like that red-head monkey was back from the rehab... So cheap of Sannoh not including them to the slot... pffft"

"I don't think it's a bad idea at all..." Jin from behind opposed. "It would be a pity if either of them loses only in a Practice Match... Save the best for last as they say..."

"JIN-SENPAI!? Even you on Shohoku's side!?" Kiyota protested wailing and jumping around like the usual hyper kid he is.

* * *

"GUUURL! Where the hell have you been!" Naomi asked Mika impatiently, who just finally got back to their place. "The match has just started!"

"I was supposed to ask you that! I told you a while ago to come with me cuz I will intro you to Eiji-kun, but youre nowhere to be found! Silly... so I just went to buy snacks anyways!"

"Well, I still hate him for making me wait... lost interest in getting to know him pffft" Naomi scoffed. "Thanks by the way!" Naomi then grinned while snatching a bag of chips from Mika's hands.

* * *

SLAAAAAP!

The sound of the ball hitting the hands from a hard pass.

"WWOAAAH! THERE HE IS! IT'S SAWAKITA'S TIME!"

The crowd went wild the moment the ball went to Sawakita's hands, dribbling it, passing it left and right alternately to his hands, under his legs whilst bouncing it down the floor.

Takano and Nagano came flying, rushing to guard Sawakita.

"2 of you huh?" Sawakita overflowing with confidence.

"Don't act too cocky..."

"Alrighty then...!" Sawakita in a blink of an eye turned to his side, swiftly turning around, then smoothly escaping from those two's defense effortlessly.

"SHIT!"

"HANAGATA!" Fujima blurted out, alerting Hanagata to watch out, while Sawakita was on his way to the goal, with Takano and Nagano chasing behind him who eventually caught up.

Sawakita, then jumped and raised his arms to shoot in front of Hanagata, Nagano and Takano who had formed a barricade in front of him, blocking every single way he could shoot the ball...

"Really huh?" Sawakita smirking, shifting his arms down then turning it around, throwing the ball to the side, bouncing it to the backboard.

SHOOT!

"W-WHAT THE!"

2nd HALF : 12 mins left

[Shoyo - 33 Sannoh Kogyo - 45]

"_Within just 8 minutes... they managed to turn the tables around, now with them leading by 12 points..._" Fujima, thought to himself trying to catch his breath...

"_Dammit!_"

* * *

"Th-that #9..." Naomi mumbled. "He's fucking good..."

"Why of course!" Mika confidently spoke out. "He wouldn't be the National MVP otherwise... haha!" She chuckled.

"GO EIJI-KUN!" Mika then yelled, grabbing some attention from the people on the court including Sawakita and his teammates. "GANBATTE!"

"Ou!" Sawakita throwing his fist in the air smiled back at her before running back to his post.

"S-say what?" Naomi befuddled by how Mika called the guy just now.

"AH! How could I forget to tell you..." Mika sheepishly smiled. "That #9 is Eiji-kun. My childhood friend..."

"EEEEEEEEEH!"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 9**


	10. Disillusionment

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

"EEEEEEEEEH!"

"T-that?" Naomi stammered by astonishment. "THAT GUY?"

"Yeah! His full name is Sawakita, Eiji... although I usually call him Eiji-kun haha. He is 17 and I repeat, just like you he is a National MVP / Super Rookie last year! Not even college folks have beaten him when it comes to One on One! He's EXTREMELY GREAT!"

"Sa- Sawa-kita?... Sa- Sannoh?" Naomi uttered inadvertently still perplexed, being reminded of something...

* * *

_"Captain, we just apologized to Sawakita-san, we accidentally hit him with the ball in his face..."_

_"Sawakita-san? You mean, that ball-headed goof over there...?" Naomi contemptuously raising a brow at Sawakita who stood outside the court still looking at them blankly._

_"Yeah!" One of the girls answered enthusiastically. "He is from Sannoh, and he was an MVP..."_

_"Big deal..." She interrupted before the girl could finish her word. "We had no time to moon over a fool labelled MVP who cant even dodge a ball with his hands."_

* * *

"Why? What's the matter?" Mika asked confused with Naomi's reactions...

"N- NOTHING!" She reacted immediately without thinking. "Just... kinda... reminded me of something..."

"_What the fuck! So he was that goofball we accidentally bumped into yesterday?! Unbelievable..._" Naomi thought to herself as she continued eyeing Sawakita from head to foot, paying attention to his every move and familiarizing his features as well...

"Not bad at all..." She grinned.

* * *

"_Dammit! Only 10 minutes left..._" Fujima muttered, he looked back at Hanagata, who was actually gesturing him to move along and trust the whole team.

[Shoyo - 40 Sannoh Kogyo - 60]

"_Amazingly, they made it into a 20 point difference within just a short period of time..._"

_And we're all dead exhausted..._

_We are all trying our best to score... but looks like they can do it 100 times better..._

_So this is what they call Japan's #1..._

_Why am I feeling all this? Why of all times to lose confidence, just now?!_

_I was never like this..._

_Can we make it?"_

"**FUJIMA!**" Nagano yelled the moment he passed the ball to Fujima, jolting him away from his thoughts when all of the sudden...

SLAAAAAPPPP!

"Nice Intersect, Fukatsu!" Minoru blurted out as he made his way to score once more succesfully.

SHOOT!

2ND half : 9:54 left.

[Shoyo - 40 Sannoh Kogyo - 62]

"Donmai, Captain..." Hasegawa pat Fujima's shoulder.

"**IKE IKE SHOYO, OSE OSE SHOYO!**"

The cheers for Shoyo still loud and even getting louder despite the increasing lead and the decreasing chance of winning. Something Fujima cannot hear no more.

"Not good... Im the Captain... I must do something!"

* * *

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

The student-referee called out.

"**CHARGE TIMEOUT - SHOYO!**"

"I'm sorry..." Fujima uttered in a low remorseful yet strict monotone.

"W-what?" His teammates confused and worried at the same time reacted upon, as they all stood surrounding Fujima who was sitting on the bench.

"Forgive me... I was too preoccupied and stunned..." He continued. "I'm not usually like this... and if I continue being like this, I would surely drag the team down."

"Fujima..." With a tone of slight anxiety Hanagata uttered. "Don't you trust us?"

"I do. It's not you guys." Fujima responded... "It's just me..."

"Why of all times, NOW?"

"I know... I was thinking too much about winning, and paying back to Shohoku that I forgot I needed to get a hold of myself and the whole team before being able to do so..." Fujima continued.

"Listen up..."

* * *

"Fujima is getting too tensed. He was never like this..." Miyagi noticed. "I can't blame him though..."

"Looks like he feels intimidated..." Haruko stated worriedly.

"No matter how full of confidence that guy is, of course at some extent, facing Sannoh would get him to that point..." Akagi interposed. "I know... I've been through that..."

"Maybe because of his beard... he needs to shave it up..." Hanamichi rubbing his chin retorted. "He really does... (nods nods)"

"(sigh) Why can't you just leave his beard alone and mind your own fucking business?" Miyagi told Hanamichi.

"Maybe he wanted to grow his own beard too, huh?" Mitsui addressing to Hanamichi sardonically.

"MIT-CHIII!?"

"Yeah, and dye it red too..." Miyagi added further.

"RYO-CHIIIN!" Hanamichi wailed loudly. "GRRRRRRRR, OI! HOKETSU KUUUUUN!" Hanamichi addressing to Fujima yelled louder impatiently. "Are you just gonna stand there and watch till Sannoh beats the crap out of you over! FUCK IT! DO SOMETHING!"

"Sa-Sakuragi..."

The rest of the Shoyo members looked up at the angry red-head showing his quirky way of support for them.

"So what if they're Sannoh! From AA-rank they're now demoted to just A-rank! You guys are an A-rank team too! YOU'RE JUST AT THE SAME LEVEL NOW SO NO REASON TO SULK THE HELL OUT AND ACT LIKE LOSER DOGS IN HERE! Prove yourselves worthy of a payback match to us! GODDAMM-"

**KABLAAAAAAAAMMMM!**

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Stupid monkey!" Akagi, once again hitting Hanamichi on the head growing it another lump...

"G-goooriiii..." Hanamichi, hunching in pain, mussing the lump in his head.

"And why the hell do you think we're trying to win this over just to be proven worthy of a rematch with you guys?" Hanagata retorted sardonically with a smirk. "You're just another A-rank team just like us after all... Shame on you talking so big like that..."

"You'll see, Sakuragi... Beating Sannoh is enough proof we have beaten you. No need for a rematch..." Fujima finally stood up, now with a determined gleam on his eyes.

* * *

"Heard that?" Doumoto-sensei called them out. "Just reminding you guys that you are now JUST an A-rank team..."

The rest of the Sannoh members, eyes down the floor in guilt and contempt.

"Why are we here again?"

"To bring ourselves back to where we should be... yo..." Fukatsu now flaming with determination spoke in his monotonous voice.

"Good!"

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

The sound of the whistle as a signal that the break is over and it's time to get back on the court...

Once again, the sound of the cheers, the screeching of the shoes against the floor and most of all the sound of the bouncing ball echoed around the gym.

Thanks to Hanamichi, boosting their morale drastically, they are all ready to go face to face with Sannoh, gaining back the points they lost to them.

THUD!

The ball bounced towards Hasegawa... him catching it, then jumping out of the line, going for a three pointer.

"TOO HASTY!" Minoru blurted out, trying to stop him in which unfortunately it still went through...

**SLAAAAMMM!**

The ball bounced on the ring, failing to put it in...

"REBOUND!"

The giants Nobe, Masashi, Takano and Nagano sprung up with all their might, competing on who gets to the ball first just when...

"This is ours!" Hanagata from behind jumped up tapping the ball forward, bouncing it to the ring once again...

and eventually falling it in...

SHOOT!

**"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOO!"**

2nd HALF : 9:00 left

[Shoyo - 42 Sannoh Kogyo - 62]

Fujima, locked his eyes on Fukatsu, with full confidence...

"I told you... This is our comeback..."

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 10**


	11. The Comeback

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

"I wonder if Shoyo could still make it..." Mika said worriedly. "Would they be able to score enough to gain back 20 points and more at just a short period of time? Specially with Sannoh?"

Naomi still too dazed, not speaking a single word...

"NAOMIII! ARE YOU STILL WITH ME!" Mika shook Naomi's shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"Oh! Hahaha!" Naomi with a gleeful yet sheepish smile on her face finally spoke back. "Of course Im still here teehee!"

* * *

5 minutes left.

[Shoyo - 57 Sannoh Kogyo - 62]

"ALRRRRIIIGHT!" Takano screamed in glory, them being able to reduce the gap from 20 into just 5 points within just 4 minutes.

"GOOD JOB!" Fujima giving each one of them a high five before coming back to their posts.

"Time to end this match!"

"OU!"

* * *

"'tch... looks like they're catching up..." Doumoto-sensei muttered under his breath impatiently.

"Aren't we gonna call for a timeout? We needed to change plans..." Ichinokura who sat besides him suggested.

"A timeout is a mutual advantage. It would just mean more advantage to their side..."

* * *

"Sawakita!"

Fukatsu threw the ball forward underneath, him being guarded by both Nagano and Takano.

As the ball flew forward, Sawakita rushed to it, whilst Fujima as well ran to catch up to intercept. "I won't let you!"

Reaching his arm up to the ball, Sawakita then tapped it upwards, bouncing the ball unto the backboard...

THUD!

Swinging his arms, then swiftly shifted his body up, going for a jump... until his hands were able to reach the ball in the air...

**SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!**

"WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Once again, the crowd went wild, screaming Sawakita's name...

"Sa-wa-kita! Sa-wa-kita!"

Sawakita, still hanging on the ring, finally let go, leaving the backboard shaking.

"Nice..." Fukatsu then walked towards Sawakita giving him a high-five, then Masashi shook Sawakita's head with his hands... "Great job!"

"THE FUCK! T-that was...! UNBELIEVABLE!"

2nd HALF : 3:35 mins left.

[Shoyo - 57 Sannoh Kogyo - 64]

**"Sa-wa-kita! Sa-wa-kita!"**

The cheering started to get louder... even the Shoyo fans themselves had started to cheer as well.

* * *

"_T'ch Show off..._" Rukawa, agitated by Sawakita's previously spectacular move that shook the whole crowd.

"_And morons going wild over something as trivial as that..._"

* * *

"_Sawakita...Eiji..._" Naomi mumbling his name, too dazed to move and think of anything else... "So cool..."

"I told you! He's GREAT!" Mika in agreement, nodded her head with a smug grin in her face, nudging her friend on her sides.

* * *

"GRRRRRR! OI MEGANE!" Hanamichi blundered out once again to Hanagata. "WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN DOING LETTING THAT #9 MOFO SCORE LIKE THAT!"

"YEAH! HE WAS COMPLETELY UNGUARDED! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!" Kiyota from the opposite side of the balcony stood out and started wailing as well... until they realized...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Screaming in unison.

"NOZARRRRUUUU!"

"AKAGE-SARUUUU!"

Pointing to each other, they both blurted out upon seeing each other. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Once again in unison...

"Hmph!" Kiyota scoffed, crossing his arms unto his chest, "Of course! I'm here to watch as we are invited for a practice match against them next week... hohoho" With a gloating smile he bragged. "And you?"

"TCH! I was here because I was invited by them to watch and supervise their match cuz IM THE GENIUS! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"SUPERVISE? WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU KIDDING! SOME RED HEAD MONKEY LIKE YOU? WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DONT MAKE ME LAUGH! Youre just jealous cuz Sannoh didn't invite you WAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"YOU SHUT UP! THEY DIDN'T INVITE US CUZ THEYRE TOO SCARED TO LOSE AGAIN!"

"THAT'S MORE LIKE THEYRE UNDERESTIMATING YOU! RED HEAD MONKEY!"

**KABLAAAAAAMMMMMM!**

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Stupid Monkey!" Both taken aback by Maki and Akagi, respectively, receiving another whack in the head.

"Youre too noisy you might distract the players..." Maki then went along to another corner, dragging Kiyota by the ear with him, with Jin tagging along behind.

"Shame on you! Talking so big like that!" Akagi once again, slapped Hanamichi in the head.

"DUDE! THATS THE FOURTH!" Hanamichi whined, hunching, mussing his head once again. "Stupid Goriii..." He mumbled.

* * *

**SLAAAAAAMMMMMMMM!**

Hanagata once again, in an offensive rebound shook the backboard like Sawakita did, throwing aback Nobe and Masashi behind, giving back hope to the rest of the team and and all of their supporters...

"Hana-gata! Hana-gata!" The cheering ensued.

2nd HALF : 1:04 min left.

[Shoyo - 62Sannoh Kogyo - 66]

Panting, Hanagata stood under the goal, before facing the rest of the team...

"I told you to trust us..." He addressed to Fujima who raised his fist inviting Hanagata for a brofist.

"We will win this..." Hanagata with a smirk, then tapped his fist at Fujima's.

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

The student-referee called out.

**"CHARGE TIME-OUT - SANNOH!"**

* * *

"So I guess that wasn't anticipated..." Doumoto-sensei supposed, clasping his hands together. "Apparently, they have gotten stronger than before..."

The rest speechless, still panting, stared blankly in thin air...

"How many fouls did each of them have?" He then turned to the guy in glasses who was their Team Manager.

"Fukatsu - 2, Nobe - 3, Minoru - 2, Masashi - 3 and Sawakita - 3... Apparently, from the other team, Fujima, Hanagata and Hasegawa got 3..."

Doumoto sensei sighed, before finally speaking out. "Sawakita... I always have reminded you to be careful!"

"Sorry..." Sawakita uttered in response.

"We cannot sub you out at this moment... So watch out with the fouls..."

"Hai..."

"Nobe... I'll sub you out with Mikio..."

"Hai..." Nobe said, taking a seat on the bench, tapping Mikio in the palm who walked past him. "Sorry brother..." Mikio then turned to Masashi, to apologize again, as his usual mannerism.

"But that's just for now... You'll be back in a few..." He looked back at Nobe then proceeding to the rest.

"Score as much as you can and never stop. You should never let them take the lead..."

"OOUU!"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 11**


	12. 5 seconds

**DISCLAIMER :** Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: _Inoue Takehiko_, the publisher, the broadcasting company of the anime and etc.

* * *

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPP!**

Once again, the whistle signalled them to head back to the court and proceed to the match.

Both teams marched their way back, without a word, eyes set on to each other, igniting with the will power to win.

"This is where the real match starts..." Akagi supposed.

"Just a minute left... Will Shoyo make it?" Haruko anxious wondered.

"T'ch! pieces of shit..." Hanamichi scoffed before turning his back... "I'm outta here!"

"Sakuragi-kun?!" Haruko tried to call him back.

"OI! Where you goin, Hanamichi!?" Yohei as well called him out loud.

"There's no point watching this stupid match further. This bores the fuck outta me. I'd rather go home and sleep..."

Hanamichi then moved along, breaking into the crowd of people... "Outta my way!"

"Well, Haruko-chan?" Yohei as well, turning to Haruko... "I think you saw Hanamichi started rolling just now... We need to get going too!"

"Yohei kun too?!" Haruko confused, asked.

"Bye Haruko-chaaan!" They all waved as they made their way to catch up to Hanamichi. "OI! HANAMICHI! WAIT UP, DAMMIT!"

"That stupid monkey..." Akagi muttered. "Really an idiot..."

"Well then, I guess I gotta get rolling too?!" Miyagi as well, turning his back. "Jaa'na..!" Throwing a hand up in the air waving it, without looking back.

"R-Ryota!?" Ayako blurted out.

Miyagi just looked back at Ayako, winking before putting his hands into his pockets then proceeding to follow Hanamichi and the Gundan as well.

"(sigh) Even Ryota too... What a bunch of pain in the ass..." Ayako shook her head, putting her palm into her face.

"Gotta go too..." Mitsui as well, putting his hands into his pockets too followed, then walked his way out.

"What? The three of you now this time?" Kogure called out.

"You guys don't get it, do you?" Mitsui, stopping on his tracks looked back, raising a brow. "When either of them loses, the shame is twice for them knowing we're here to witness their loss..." He then smirked. "Give those guys a break.."

Mitsui then finally without looking back moved on.

"Arrogant ass troublemakers..." Akagi said under his breath, turning back to the match.

* * *

**"ASSEMBLE...!"**

Inside the Ryonan gym.

Uozumi, finally a week after the approval of his cancellation of retirement, back to his duty of being the Captain bid the whole team to gather around before dismissing, after the morning practice session.

"2 weeks from now, will be our Practice Match against Sannoh..." He began. "Hence this extra Sunday Pratice routine. We need to work EVEN harder. No matter if this would just be a Practice Match, and they're considered the strongest, ever winning Highschool Basketball Team in the whole nation, we still can't afford to lose..."

"'Tch, what is this? A fuckin show?" Koshino interposed. "They're the #1, what's up with challenging nameless teams like us?"

"Shohoku, a nameless C-rank team, beat the crap out of them... And you all know that. I was a witness of their greatness..." Uozumi calmly responded. "Contrary to what most people think, Sannoh was never the kind of team that underestimates their opponents. Their STRONGEST lineup in the history, being defeated by a C-rank team for the first time in their 10 years of reign, they took it as a sign to strive EVEN harder to become EVEN more stronger, and eventually get themselves back on top where they used to belong..."

"Today, at this very hour is their match against Shoyo..." Ikegami, who also cancelled retirement, being back as the Vice Captain added. "We could've just paid a visit and watched... but we also needed to strive EVEN harder for our match against them 2 weeks from now..."

"And next week's Kainan's turn..." Uekusa remarked. "It's still questionable as to why they did not invite Shohoku, the one they needed a payback from..."

"I don't think it matters now. We had to focus on ourselves... on our team instead..." Uozumi stated further.

"However, at the moment, we needed to take care of our AIRHEAD ACE, who apparently wasn't aware of today's schedule..." Uozumi stressed out, from calm to irritated.

_"That bastard!... I wouldn't be forced to cancel retirement if he couldve been a reliable leader!"  
_

* * *

**"SAANNOOOH! SAANNOOOH!"... "SHOOYOO! SHOOYOO!"**

The crowd is getting more and more excited, going wild. The yells and cheering had gotten louder the moment the real showdown has begun...

2nd HALF : 0:30 min left.

[Shoyo - 67 Sannoh Kogyo - 68]

Shoyo has managed to catch up with Sannoh within a few seconds, however Sannoh doesn't lose to it, still forcing another 1-point difference made of course, by their center of Offense, Sawakita, and Nobe coming back to the game, tightening the defense once again.

And there's just 30 seconds left...

**"GO GO GO! WE CAN'T LOSE THIS!"**

Fujima called out while on the rush, the ball on their team's hands...

"DAMMIT!"

Masashi thought to himself, feeling the pressure.

"DEFEND TILL DEAAAAATHHHH!"

* * *

"Oh snap!" Hikoichi dashing to the hallway... "I'M LATE! I'M LATE!"

He just nonchalantly rushed himself into the hallway leading to the gym, almost bumping into quite a number of people... "I'm sorry! Excuse me! Excuse me!" He apologized without looking back until...

BAAAAMMM!

His butt landed hard on the floor as he hit something on his shoulders really hard, throwing him down.

"OOOOWWWW!" He groaned, trying to pick up his notebook before standing up... "That hurt!..." And the moment he looked up to see what hit him, to his surprise...

"AAAAH! SAKURAGI SAN!"

Hanamichi with the Gundan.

"Oi... Hikoichi..." Hanamichi strangely, in a calm manner greeted him back, offering him a hand to help him up. "What're you doing here?"

"What what-are-you-doing-here are you talking about Sakuragi-san! I'm here to watch Shoyo vs. Sannoh's match!" He wailed impatiently. "I wasn't able to see your spectacular, history changing match against Sannoh so I can't afford to miss this one!" .

"WAIT A SECOND!" Hikoichi after some seconds of awkward silence blurted out. "You guys are here so... THE MATCH WAS OVER?!" He rattled. "NO NO NO NO NO!"

"It's still there..." Hanamichi again in a calm manner, pointing his thumb behind. "I left cuz it bored the fuck out of me..."

Hanamichi then started to move along.

"Hurry up before it's done. Its about just a few seconds left..."

* * *

**SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!**

"HANAGATAAA!" Fujima, intercepting Sawakita's pass to Fukatsu, passed it on to Hanagata who came flying to catch it.

5 seconds...

[Shoyo - 67 Sannoh Kogyo - 68]

"SHIT!" Sawakita dashed forward to stop Hanagata who thrashed his way to the goal, aiming for a dunk...

4 seconds...

"Just stop it now! It's useless!" Masashi uttered, anticipating Hanagata's speed attack.

3 seconds...

Hanagata soared up, raising his arms high, right in front of him are Masashi and Nobe who jumped along with him, blocking his way to victory... "I'D NEVER LET YOU!"

2 seconds...

Hanagata, still up in the air, swiveled his arm down, shifting his arms to the left, throwing the ball up...

"FUCK!" Nobe gritted his teeth as he watched the ball flying towards the hoop before his feet landed back to the ground...

1 second...

**THUUDDD!**

The ball bounced to the rim of the ring letting out a loud thud...

"SHIIITT!" Hanagata cried out as he landed his feet back to the ground as well... "GET IIIN!" He swiftly shifted his body up once again, reaching for the ball...

0 second... **BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPP!**

**SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!**

The sound of his hands violently slamming the ball into the ring echoed around the whole gym... leaving the crowd speechless...

The backboard shook violently after he let go of the ring, putting his feet back on the ground...

Both teams at state of shock speechless, Hanagata, Fujima and the rest stared blankly in thin air, still catching one's breath...

"BASKET NOT COUNTED! OFFENSIVE FOUL - GREEN #5!"**  
**

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 12  
**


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